Is the Bible God’s Word or isn’t it? The catholic church has a hard time with this question. If they cannot back up their dogmas with the Word of God, they claim that their pope is infallible and, therefore, his words (and that of the magisterium) supersede the Word of God. Although they will tell you that Sacred Tradition, Magisterium and the Scriptures work together, they don’t tell you that they will adhere to sacred tradition and magisterium before they adhere to the Scriptures should there be a conflict.

I am always amazed when a catholic comments on my blog. They do not strictly use the Bible as their source of information. They quote on and on from their church fathers’ writings, their catechism, etc. I receive long, drawn out comments with many words that are too difficult to understand. They quickly and vaguely respond to the topic and then continue about countless other things so as to take away from the topic at hand. For you posters out there, when you comment – stick to the Word of God and the topic of purgatory in response to this post.

With that said, let’s take a look at the catholic church’s dogma of purgatory. In summary, the catholic church teaches that when a catholic dies, he goes to purgatory to be purged of any sins which he hadn’t confessed prior to death. They believe that the catholic cannot enter heaven with sin so he must go to purgatory for this purging so he can be purified. Only then can he go to heaven. While in purgatory, the catholic’s loved ones can have masses said or they can purchase indulgences which will shorten this catholic’s time in purgatory. The Bible clearly states that no human being can purchase anything having to do with our salvation or our redemption.

~Psalm 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

There’s the first contradiction with sacred tradition and magisterium. So let’s start from the beginning of this belief. The catholic catechism states:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. ” Pg. 2658, #1030

“The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect…” Pg. 268-269, #1031

Continue reading “Another Invention by the Catholic Church” →